Day: October 13, 2021

The 2nd International Conference in climate change in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East begins Wednesday in Pafos, Cyprus, attracting keynote speakers from around the globe. During the2-day conference the scientific findings on 13 topics will be presented and participants will be delivered solutions and measures that can tackle the climate crisis in the region.

The conference takes place in the framework of the Initiative undertaken by the Republic of Cyprus to address the evolving climate crisis in our region.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

We are rolling up our sleeves and promote 35 targeted actions aiming to render Cyprus shipping more resilient competitive and sustainable, Vassilis Demetriades, Deputy Minister for Shipping told CNA after presenting the Ministry’s long-term strategy for Cyprus shipping to the island’s shipping community.

Demetriades said October 12th was a great day for Cyprus Shipping as the President of the Republic presented Cyprus long-term strategy entitled `Sea Change 2030`.

“We want the Cypriot shipping to become more resilient in crises, more competitive so that it will have a more sustainable future for the benefit of Cyprus,” he said, pointing that the acronym SEA includes the strategy’s three key-themes, namely Sustainability, Extrovert nature and Adaptability.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, has described as a significant initiative the 2nd International Conference in climate change in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East that is being held in Pafos on Wednesday, noting its conclusions will contribute in handling climate change in the region.

Speaking to reporters upon his arrival at the venue, the President was asked to comment on the significance of the conference, describing it as a “significant initiative not only for Cyprus but for the entire region.”

The President said the first conference was held on the initiative of professor Costas Papanicolas who is the President’s special representative in the region for issues concerning climate change.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Regional and international cooperation is the key to mitigate the impacts of climate crisis, keynote speakers underlined during their opening speeches at the 2nd international conference on climate change in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East taking place Wednesday and Thursday in the coastal city of Pafos, Cyprus.

Professor Costas Papanicolas, President of the Cyprus Institute which co-organises the conference and advisor to the President of Cyprus on climate change, noted that the climate crisis is the greatest challenge humanity is faced with and the time to act is long overdue.

He said that in a few weeks in Glasgow, during COP26, the global situation will be assessed and an agreement will be reached for the coming years.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Cash collections of the Cyprus Asset Management Company (KEDIPES) reached €95.2 million in the second quarter of 2021 with total cumulative cash collections since KEDIPES establishment in September 2018 exceeding €1 billion.

Assets under management (excluding interest capitalisation) declined to €6.33 billion in the Q2 2021 from €8.25 with total deleveraging amounting to €1.93 billion while KEDIPES repaid over €0.5 billion of the state aid amounting to €3.5 billion.

KEDIPES began operation in September 2018 to manage the non-performing assets of the former state-owned Cyprus Cooperative Bank, whose deposits and performing loans were sold to Hellenic Bank, Cyprus second largest bank. The state had to support the transaction with €3.5 billion in bond offered to Hellenic.

The state-owned asset manager launched a voluntary retirement scheme

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Cyprus President, Nicos Anastasiades, asked on Wednesday the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, to exert pressure for the resumption of Cyprus talks and the termination and reversal of Turkey`s illegal activities against Cyprus.

According to a press release issued by the Presidency, Anastasiades had a telephone conversation with Merkel, during which their close, cordial and long-standing friendship, both at the political and personal level, was underlined.

President Anastasiades had the opportunity to refer extensively to the latest developments in the Cyprus problem, including the delay to the appointment of a UN special envoy on Cyprus, as well as to the ongoing Turkish provocations, both at the Cypriot maritime zones and the fenced off city of Famagusta (Varosha).

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The illegal actions of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot side in the sea off Cyprus, but also in the fenced off area of Famagusta, confirm the revisionist and neo-Ottoman stance of Turkey, who is trying to impose its own law, Government Spokesman Marios Pelekanos has told the Cyprus News Agency, asked about the new redevelopment works in Varosha.

He also underlined that Cyprus is taking all the necessary steps and exhausting all available means to put an end to the illegal actions of the Turkish side.

The Turkish side, he noted, “is essentially trying, by creating faits accomplis, to promote a different solution of the Cyprus problem – one that has been condemned by the international community – in complete disregard of international law, the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, the Permanent Members of the Security Council, the European Union,

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Cyprus is determined to take all necessary steps at a national level to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, said on Wednesday President of the Republic, Nicos Anastasiades, who pointed out the objectives of the Action Plan, which is an initiative of the Cyprus government to address the effects of climate change.

He also called on the governments of countries in the region to participate in the Plan and jointly address the consequences of climate change.

In a speech at the start of the International Conference on climate change in Pafos, he praised the participation of a number of representatives and distinguished scientists in the conference, noting that this proves collective determination to handle the effects of climate change.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Staff from the Akrotiri Environmental and Education Centre and members of the Republic of Cyprus Game and Fauna Service, have this week released four protected bird species back into the wild after they were successfully rehabilitated.

A press release circulated on Wednesday by the British Bases in Cyprus says that the birds – a Honey Buzzard, a Black Kite, two Night Herons and a Corncrake – which had been found “injured or exhausted” during their migration efforts, had been undergoing treatment at the Game and Fauna Service facility in Nicosia before being returned to the Akrotiri area to continue their journey.

Prior to their release, the birds were ringed to better inform the AEEC and Game Fund expert’s migration and ecology studies and a GPS/GSM transmitter was also fitted to a Honey Buzzard to track its migratory route to Africa.

Source: Cyprus News Agency